Chapter 776 Coaxing Wife (Two)
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Yuwen Chu replied, “Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be hungry?”
Mingzhu, still covering her face, got up and fumbled with the basin for a while before saying, “Then let’s have some food brought in.” Without waiting for Yuwen Chu’s response, she went to the mirror.
Curious, Yuwen Chu approached and saw her taking out rouge, powder, and other cosmetics. He asked, “Are you going out again?”
Mingzhu, eyes lowered, replied, “No, I’m not.”
“Why are you bringing all these things?” Yuwen Chu casually tossed her rouge back onto the vanity table. “It’s already completely dark outside.”
Mingzhu replied, “My eyes are swollen from crying, and my nose is red. I look terrible.” She glanced at Yuwen Chu out of the corner of her eye.
Yuwen Chu was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly. “Someone as vain as you thinks you look terrible? Are you joking?”
Mingzhu immediately bristled. “How am I vain? And how is this a joke?”
Yuwen Chu gave her a sidelong look. “When you used to throw tantrums in front of me, you never worried about looking terrible.”
Mingzhu was at a loss for words. She angrily threw her eyebrow pencil onto the vanity table and glared at him. “That was then. There was no Ji Hui back then! You weren’t the Regent yet, and I hadn’t had a child!”
Yuwen Chu stared at her in silence for a while before he spoke. “What are you glaring at me for?”
“Nothing.” Yuwen Chu suddenly reached out and poked her chest, speaking calmly. “I know what you’re trying to say. You’re worried that with the Xiongnu stirring up trouble, Wusun and the Ji family become even more important. You’re afraid I’ll get annoyed and won’t want to keep repeating things, so you try to play the victim. But old habits die hard; you can’t even pretend convincingly.”
Mingzhu deflated like a punctured balloon, slumping back into her chair and sighing at her reflection in the mirror. “Your Highness, you are indeed perceptive. Since you’ve seen through me, denying it would be hypocritical, wouldn’t it? So whatever you say goes.”
Yuwen Chu was amused by her. “Whatever I say goes?”
Mingzhu hummed in agreement but then quickly changed her tune. “But no saying mean things.”
“Actually, you want me to say things that align with your wishes, don’t you?” Yuwen Chu smiled and pinched her nose. “Tell them to serve the meal; I’m hungry.” Once the food was set, he instructed Xiangli, “Bring a pot of pear blossom wine.”
“What’s the special occasion that you’re drinking? Aren’t you going to handle official duties later?” Mingzhu was used to his busy schedule and assumed he would have to return to the palace for work after such a significant event.
Yuwen Chu replied, “Just a little drink won’t matter.” He then told the maids serving the meal, “You can all leave now; we don’t need to be attended.”
Mingzhu straightened up and asked, “What’s so important that it requires such formality?”
Yuwen Chu smiled and took out the pills she had given him before. “I had someone check these. They all say that taking them long-term is harmful to the body.”
“So what?” Mingzhu nearly jumped up. “Who checked them? They must have made a mistake.”
“Calm down. You’ve been very irritable today.” Yuwen Chu pressed her back down. “It’s true; I consulted four different imperial physicians, including Tang Chunlai. They all said it’s harmful. So I forbid you from taking them.”
“Ah…” Mingzhu ground her teeth against the table. “That useless Jiang Zhouzi! I’ll have him reformulate them. If he can’t do it right, he can starve to death!”
Yuwen Chu glanced at her and poured wine into their cups. “You can’t expect me to wait forever, can you?”
Mingzhu felt a pang of grievance as she watched Yuwen Chu’s long fingers. “I don’t want to have children anymore. My belly is never at peace; I don’t want it.”
“Alright, seeing how pitiful you are, I’ll give you a break. Here, drink this cup of wine, and I’ll wait.” Yuwen Chu handed her a cup of wine. Mingzhu, who hadn’t had a chance to drink freely with him in a long time, immediately downed it with a flourish, showing the empty cup. “Your turn, Your Highness.”
Yuwen Chu smiled, his eyes shining as he looked at her and drank his cup as well.
They continued to drink together, serving each other dishes and soup. As the night deepened, Yuwen Chu remained clear-headed, but Mingzhu became drunk. She shook her head and said, “No more, no more. There’s so much to do tomorrow.”
Yuwen Chu whispered in her ear, “Drink if you want, sleep if you want. Who would dare to say otherwise?”
Mingzhu leaned into his arms, reminiscing about their early days of marriage with a sigh. “…Back when we first got married, I didn’t even dare to sleep in. The next day, I had to go to the palace for an audience, but you didn’t wake me up, nor let anyone else wake me up. It made me anxious for so long.”
Yuwen Chu asked, “What were you thinking?”
Mingzhu squinted her eyes and smiled. “I was wondering if you were trying to set me up, showing everyone how spoiled the daughter of the Fu family was… Then I’d be famous for being difficult, and whatever you did to me afterward would be justified because I was so troublesome.”
Yuwen Chu sighed. “So you were drunk even back then. Wash up and go to sleep.”
Mingzhu clung to his collar, refusing to let go. “No way. All men love new things and get tired of the old. I rarely get you drunk enough to tell the truth. You have to admit, do you like Ji Hui even a little? She’s more beautiful, younger, and gentler than I am…”
Yuwen Chu pried her hands off his collar one by one, picked her up, and carried her inside. “If I say yes, what will you do?”
Mingzhu struggled to grab his ear. “No way. I said no.”
Yuwen Chu let her tug on him. “Just saying no isn’t enough. You need to take some action; otherwise, how would I know to give up?”
Mingzhu stopped pulling on his ear, stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, and then murmured, “You wouldn’t like to hear the truth.”
“How do you know if you don’t say it?” Yuwen Chu raised an eyebrow. “Come on, tell me.”
Mingzhu firmly shook her head. “I’m not drunk. I’m not telling you.” She buried her head in his chest, yawned, and prepared to sleep.
Yuwen Chu, now intrigued, coaxed her in various ways. “Come on, tell me. What do you want to do?” Seeing her unresponsive, he half-jokingly, half-seriously said, “You wouldn’t want to deal with me the same way you dealt with Old Nine, would you?”
Mingzhu kept her mouth tightly shut, determined not to reveal the truth. She knew he would be genuinely upset if she did.
Yuwen Chu guided her hand to his abdomen. “Let me tell you, the easiest place to strike is here. If you stab this spot, the spleen will rupture, and there will be a lot of blood. Unless someone like Jiang Zhouzi arrives very quickly, even a god wouldn’t be able to save me.”
Mingzhu’s hand slid inside his clothes, and she laughed softly, “Here, right?”
Yuwen Chu, though initially not with good intentions, trembled in both pleasure and pain when she touched him. His eyes darkened.
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